Harder Than Life
by Lady Kea
Summary: Sequel to ETL. Inuyasha and Kagome are engaged and living in Tokyo when Souta comes to live with them while he goes to Tokyo U. They then learn that they need to go to Italy to help Sango and Miroku get ready for their upcoming wedding.
1. The Move In

**Disclaimer: I only lay claim to my plot.**

_Authoress' Note: __**HAPPY NEW YEAR! **__Here it is my friends, this is my present to all of you!! The long awaited (well, maybe not long awaited, but hopefully awaited) sequel to "Easier Than Love" this story takes place a year after the epilogue of "Easier Than Love" which means it takes place two and a half years after the main events of the story. For a little bit it's just going to take place in Tokyo with Inuyasha and Kagome, but don't worry: everyone else will be in it in due time. So I hope that people are actually reading this. And otherwise, just enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Harder Than Life  
Chapter One**  
_The Move-In_

_(Read the authoress' note)_

"This is the last of them" Inuyasha said as he put the box down in doorway of the spare room. He gave the pile of boxes a little push with his foot, sending all the boxes falling to the floor and got them out of the hallway.

"What was that?" Kagome asked, coming out of the kitchen, ringing her hands on a dish towel. She looked at what Inuyasha had just done and frowned at him, putting the towel over her shoulder. She walked over to the boxes and turned back at her fiancé. "You shouldn't do that Inuyasha! You could break something! We don't know what's in the boxes!" she scolded.

"Chill out sis. There's nothing really important in any of those boxes. You don't have to yell at Inuyasha." Souta said, coming up the stairs and closing the door behind him.

"Sorry, I'm just a little stressed out. Mom and Grandpa have been on my back since we offered to have you come live with us while you're going to college. They think I'm going to corrupt you or you're going to get stabbed on the bus or…God knows what. I'm a little wound."

"It's nothing new" Inuyasha said and Kagome threw the towel at him, wrapping itself around his face. Inuyasha took the towel off of his face and put it over his shoulder and looked to Souta, "Don't mind her please. She's been exceptionally crazy since your stuff started arriving from Kyoto."

Souta shrugged, "It's fine. I lived with her for the majority of my life; I know how she gets."

"Stop ganging up on me!" she whined. "Or else…I don't know what but it'll be bad!"

Inuyasha put his arm around Kagome and gave her a kiss on the cheek, despite her refusal to corporate, "I love you" he said and she shook her head, "Well, I don't like you very much. I'm going to go make dinner. Help Souta with his room."

She walked into the kitchen in a huff and Inuyasha and Souta looked at each other, after she was in the kitchen they both stiffened laughter.

"You made her _mad_" Souta said.

Inuyasha shook his head, "No, she'll be happy again by dinner." He put his hand on Souta's shoulder, "Let's go unload some boxes so Kags doesn't get angrier."

The two walked into what was now Souta's room and began opening boxes.

"For an 18 year old guy, you have a lot of stuff. Everyone knows a real man can live out of a backpack if necessary."

"Inuyasha I don't think all of your hair products would fit in a backpack, let alone enough stuff to live off of." Kagome called from the kitchen, having overheard the conversation. "Souta, don't let him tell you anything, he has just as much stuff in this apartment as I do. _I_ have a better chance of living out of a backpack than he does."

"Don't get mad because my hair is softer than yours!" he yelled into the kitchen before turning back to Souta, "She always gets angry about that, she's really jealous."

"Inuyasha, I'm a model! I'm not jealous!"

"And I'm a movie star! You should be jealous!"

"Why did I decide to move in here?! I could have lived in a dorm, like a normal college student, but noooo! I decide to save money and move in with the crazys!" Souta said to himself as he continued to unpack.

"We're not crazy" Inuyasha said, closing the door so they could unpack in peace. "_She's_ crazy. I'm perfectly sane. Usually."

They both laughed and opened the rest of the boxes. They did as much as they could before Kagome called them in for dinner. They all sat down around the table, as family-esque as they could be as Kagome brought the dinner into the dining room. She placed the plate of chicken parmesan in the center of the table and she sat down across the table from Inuyasha as he began to serve the food.

"So…Souta, are you excited for your first day of classes tomorrow?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, I've wanted to go to Tokyo U ever since I started high school…and ever since mom and gramps decided that if I didn't go to college I was pretty much going to be disowned."

"Yeah, I'll take the blame for that one. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it sis. I'm glad that I'm going to college. I don't think I could cut it as a model like you" he said jokingly, taking a bite of his meal.

"Well, then you should have gone into acting. Anyone can do that." Inuyasha said with a smile.

"Yeah, he's the prime example of that" Kagome said, laughing at her own joke.

Inuyasha and Souta both looked at her and she stopped laughing, "What?" she asked.

"Honey, I'm sorry to tell you this…but…" Inuyasha faked being emotional and placed a sympathetic hand across the table on hers, "you aren't very funny"

Kagome pulled her hand away and gasped, "That's a lie!"

Inuyasha and Kagome both looked over to Souta, both of their eyes begging him to side with them.

"Don't look at me. I'm not here to be your argument ender. I'm here to go to school. How about we change the subject?"

"So, are you going to tell people who you're living with?" Inuyasha asked, "Because I don't want a bunch of college people running around."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to advertise the fact that I'm living with two famous people. as if school isn't going to be hard enough I'm still surprised that the paparazzi hasn't figured out you guys live here yet."

"Don't jinx it!" Kagome and Inuyasha both shouted, knocking on the wooden table.

"Are all famous people crazy?" Souta asked no one in particular. "I am in for a long college career"

* * *

_Authoress' Note: so here is the first chapter of the sequel. I hope you like it thus far! Please review!_


	2. The Invitation

**Disclaimer: I only own my plot.**

_Authoress' Note: oh my goodness, I'm pretty excited about all the reviews! 11 of them! Yay! And I'm also glad that people thought it was funny cause I'm not going to lie, that's exactly how I see Kagome and Inuyasha being…a lot like how my family is. And I thought it was pretty funny myself so yeah._

* * *

**Harder Than Life  
**_The Invitation_

"Wake up Souta! I'm bringing you to the university today so I can pay for your books." Kagome said, knocking on his bedroom door.

"Go away! I'm sleeping!" Souta called from his bed in a half-asleep state.

"Souta Higurashi! Get up right now or you can pay for your own books, and since you couldn't afford housing I'm pretty sure you need me to pay for your books!" she waited at the door and heard him getting out of bed and she smiled, knowing she could always win an argument with Souta, "I'm going to get dressed, be ready to leave in 20 minutes."

An indistinct mumble was heard on the other side of the door and Kagome knew that was "half-asleep-Souta-language" for "okay"

Kagome walked back into her and Inuyasha's bedroom, where Inuyasha was still in bed. She went to the closet and pulled on the closest pair of jeans. She took off her large sleep shirt and looked around in her closet for something inconspicuous to wear. She pulled the Tokyo U shirt she had purchased when she knew Souta was coming off of its hanger and put it on. She slipped on a pair of black flats and walked out of the closet. Seeing that Inuyasha was still sleeping, she didn't bother to ask how she looked; instead she just walked into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

She washed her face and brushed her teeth quickly; wanting to make sure she was done before Souta was. She brushed out her tangled hair and fastened it into a high ponytail. She walked out of the bathroom and saw that Inuyasha had woken up and was still laying in bed, looking at her.

"Do I look inconspicuous? I mean, I'll be wearing my glasses too."

"You look like a college student…"

"Awesome! I'm taking Souta to buy his books and then I'm going to take him to lunch. We'll be back later, okay?"

Inuyasha shrugged, "Well in that case I'm going back to sleep."

Kagome shook her head and walked over to give him a kiss, "Lazy bones"

"It's why you love me" he said with a smile.

"Oh…_that's_ why…I've always wondered."

She walked to the doorway and looked back at Inuyasha, "Bye. I love you"

"Love you too. Have fun, don't kill Souta."

Kagome laughed, he knew her so well, "no promises" she said as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"Souta! Are you ready to go?!" she called as she went into the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

Souta came out of his room, still groggy from being woken up, he trudged into the kitchen and took a muffin out of the breadbox and took a bite out of it. He looked at Kagome, who was drinking her water with a big smile on her face.

"How are you awake? And cheerful for that matter?" he asked.

"Do you remember those shots of me on the beach that I sent to mom? Where I'm wearing the maroon bathing suit?"

"Yeah…but I don't see what that has to do with getting up early…"

"They were taken at five in the morning. It's when the best light is. I'm pretty used to being awake early, you just get used to it."

Souta shrugged and finished his muffin, "I guess. Let's get going."

Kagome grabbed her purse, keys and sunglasses off of the table. She put the glasses on and looked in the mirror one last time before leaving the apartment with Souta behind her.

They walked the short distance to Tokyo University and after minimal confusion found their way to the bookstore.

"Do you have your class list?" Kagome asked as they walked down to the basement where all of the books were kept.

Souta pulled the paper out of his pocket and they walked up and down the aisles of books, and after a half hour of searching they successfully found all of the books Souta needed. As they stood in line Kagome began to get nervous, looking at the cashiers at the school story she began to realize that anyone one of them could recognize her.

"Souta, I don't think this is wise. Someone could…"

"Don't worry about it sis. You look like any other college student, and the cashiers here are so out of it they don't even pay attention to the people they check out."

They were called out of line and they walked to the first cashier who waved them forward. Souta put his books on the counter and the girl quickly rang them up and bagged them. Kagome handed the girl her credit card and was handed the receipt to sign. Souta took the bags off the counter and Kagome signed quickly and handed the receipt back before the girl could read the signature. They walked out of the bookstore and disappeared into the crowd.

"See sis? I told you, no sweat. And besides, models aren't as famous here as they are in Italy."

"It's not me I'm worried about. I'm afraid someone will recognize me and follow me home to…" Kagome let her sentence hang, not wanting to say Inuyasha's name out loud in case someone was listening to their conversation.

"Oh…yeah. That would be bad." Souta said, understanding where his sister was coming from.

"Well, let's get something to eat for lunch and then go back to the apartment, okay? We need to get lazy ass out of bed."

"Okay. But where can we eat where you can wear your glasses inside? Without them people_will_ know who you are."

"We'll eat over there" Kagome said, pointing to a restaurant with an outdoor patio area, "We can eat outside. I've gotten pretty good at finding ways to stay incognito."

They ate a fast lunch on the patio before paying and leaving to go back to the apartment, mostly because Kagome didn't like being out in a crowd for a long period of time, afraid for Inuyasha's privacy. They walked back to the apartment, Kagome stopping to get the mail from the mailbox before walking up. When they got back inside the apartment, Souta took his bags into his room and then came back out and sat down in front of the TV for a day of vegging.

Kagome took the mail and went into the bedroom where Inuyasha was sitting up in bed with his laptop. She climbed up into bed beside him and looked over his shoulder.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked.

"Stuff" he replied, "Work stuff"

Kagome began to flip through the mail, passing Inuyasha the things addressed to him and placing her mail in her lap. The last thing in the pile was a small card addressed in calligraphy to both of them.

"Look how fancy this is Yash. What do you think it is? There's no return address."

"Open it and see" he said glancing over at the card and then returning to his work on his laptop.

She opened the envelope and pulled the card out and another envelope fell out of the card. Kagome looked at the card, which said "You're Invited" in the same fancy calligraphy on it.

"It's just an invitation, probably another benefit thing" she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice. She opened it up and read it and had to stifle a scream. She bounced up and down on the bed until Inuyasha looked at her.

"What is so exciting?" he asked.

She opened the card and read what it said, "Mr. Miroku Kashi and Ms. Sango Takai cordially invite you to their wedding on the first of September!" she exclaimed. "They're getting married Yash!"

Inuyasha took the invitation from Kagome and read over it again and smiled, "That dog" he said with a laugh, "He finally did it" he looked at the envelope that had come in the invitation sitting in Kagome's lap, "What's in that?" he asked.

Kagome shrugged, "I don't know." She opened it up and pulled a small card out of it and read what was written on it, "Kags and Yash, please come help us! We need you! Love Sango and Miroku"

"They would need our help." Inuyasha said with a smirk, "No one can function without us."

Kagome looked into the envelope and was surprised at what she found inside. "Yash, look at what they sent us" she said, pulling the plane tickets from the envelope. "A flight to Italy. It's in a week." She said, looking at the tickets.

"But the wedding isn't for a month"

"They said they wanted help from us. Why would they fly us over closer to the wedding if they wanted help? There's a month left before the wedding so I would understand why they would want us there soon."

"What do you want to do? Souta's here and going to school and I don't want to abandon him."

"I know you miss Milan Kagome, we should go. And if you don't want to leave Souta, I'll stay here and fly over the week of the wedding. I have some stuff I need to do here anyway."

"Are you sure? I don't you to think I'm abandoning you."

"Of course not, your best friend needs you to help put the finishing touches on her wedding. You fly out in a week and I'll fly over on the 30th, I'll call the airline right now and change one of the tickets."

Kagome leaned over and hugged him tightly, disregarding the laptop that was still in his lap. "Thank you."

Inuyasha smiled and handed Kagome her cell phone from the bedside table. She flipped it open and dialed Sango's phone number.

Inuyasha watched Kagome's face with a smile as Sango picked up.

"Sango!" she exclaimed "I'm coming! Well, my brother moved in with us to go to school so Inuyasha's going to stay here with him and fly out on the 30th. Sango! Of course I'll be your maid of honor! Okay, no, I won't tell him, I promise. Okay, I'll see you in a week! Bye!"

"Maid of honor? That's a big deal" Inuyasha said, having heard one half of the conversation, "What else did Sango say?"

"Just that she's excited that I'm coming and that we'll talk more when I come. Oh Yash, I'm so excited!"

Inuyasha put his laptop on the bedside table and pulled Kagome close to him, "I know you are, I know you are."

* * *

_Authoress' Note: and here is chapter two! Please review! That rhymed, did anyone else notice that? Well anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter in as soon as I can but I've been a little frazzled lately._

* * *

_**Response to Reviews:**_

_**PureShikon: **__yes, the media does know that Kagome and Inuyasha are a couple. I alluded to that when Kagome was worried about people knowing where Inuyasha lived._

_**Ihaveweirdfriends:**__ yes, Inuyasha gave Kagome the ring. They are engaged but they have yet to start planning a wedding because they are both very job-oriented. And no, at this point in time Souta isn't going to be paired with anyone, he's kinda just…there in this story but I'll see how it goes!_

_And thank you to my other reviewers:  
**Blue-SouledKunoichi  
lil mutt face girl  
inukag.lover19  
Loved Forever  
MissisxBananers  
wolfcries  
iheartanime43  
Totally Kawaii  
Black Widow 12**_


	3. Packing

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nothing at all.**

_Authoress' Note: Now that I have finished "Living on a Prayer" I decided that I was going to begin to update this story again cause now I feel like the creative juices are flowing. Or at least right now they are. So I hope you enjoy this!_

**Harder than Life**

**Packing**

"Inuyasha! Where's my makeup bag?" Kagome yelled from the bedroom as she frantically tried to get everything packed for her flight early the next morning.

"Gee Kagome, I don't know where I put it last time **I** used it." He called back sarcastically, causing Souta to smile as he worked on his homework.

"You're not helping" She said as she poked her head out from the bedroom, "I need to find it. My flight is too early tomorrow to pack then. Have you seen it? Seriously?"

Inuyasha tore his eyes away from the television to look at his fiancée. She was standing in the doorway in shorts and a tank top with her hands on her hips, looking at him with annoyed eyes. "Hon, I have no idea where your makeup case is. Maybe its still inside one of your other suitcases from the last time you travelled."

A smile broke across her face as she realized that was probably where it was, "Thanks babe!" She said as she hurried back into the bedroom to dig through her and Inuyasha's various suitcases.

"Found it!" Inuyasha and Souta heard her yell from inside the room, followed by the sound of her running back into the bathroom.

"She's going nuts" Souta said as his pencil raced across his page as he worked on the math problems in front of him.

"Going? She's been nuts. You should know that. And I hear madness is genetic so be prepared, that's your future" Inuyasha said with a laugh, pointing in the direction of the bedroom.

"Don't even joke like that." Souta said in a fake serious voice, "Besides, the only real crazy one is you, you're the one that's going to marry her."

He shrugged, "Well I'm comfortable in my madness. I'm an actor; I'm allowed to be crazy as long as I can find a way to justify it. People love crazy shit like that."

"Yash! Can you come help me?" Kagome's voice travelled into the living room, making Souta laugh as Inuyasha stood up from his spot in the armchair and trudged into the bedroom like a condemned man walking to his death. As he had his hand on the knob he looked back to Souta, "You laugh now, but some day you'll find the one you love and you'll do anything to make them happy. Even if they are insane." He said with a smile before disappearing into the bedroom.

"Kags? Where are you?" he asked when he didn't see her in anywhere in the room.

"Closet" He heard her muffled voice coming from the closed closet. He opened the door to the large closet to reveal Kagome sitting in the middle of a sea of clothes with an empty suitcase sitting beside her.

She looked up at him and he could see tears forming in her eyes, "What's wrong babe?"

"I can't pack. I'm not going to be ready in time. And I can't leave you alone here with Souta, I'd come home to see the place burned to the ground."

He felt sympathetic to her as she started to cry but he couldn't stop himself from chuckling at her insanity.

"Don't laugh!"

"Sorry." He said, sitting down beside her on the closet floor. "But you're freaking out over nothing at all. Souta and I will be fine. You'll only be gone for two and a half weeks before I come over. Everything's going to be fine, you worry too much. Think of how nice it will be to see Sango and Miroku again. And Kouga and Ayame too for that matter. You haven't seen them in over a year, be happy and stop freaking out. "

She leaned against him, taking a few deep breaths and kissing him quickly before she turned her attention back to packing. Inuyasha stood up, kissing the top of her head before going back into the living room and sitting down in the armchair, turning his attention back to the television.

"She okay?" Souta asked, not bothering to look up from his work.

"Of course. She's always okay."

"You gonna miss her not being here for three weeks?"

"Am I going to miss the craziness, bad jokes, and bad cooking?"

"Yeah."

"Of course I am. She can be gone for a day and I miss her."

"Wow. You're a loser."

Inuyasha laughed, "Pretty much. But that's what happens when you're in love."

**

_Authoress' Note: hope this is all right for the comeback. The next chapters will be more interesting cause Kagome will finally be in Italy again. So I hope you enjoyed, so review please!_


	4. Italia

**I don't own anything. Consider this story disclaimed.**

**Harder than Life**

_Chapter 4_

The plane touched down and the passengers began to clap. It was a response that Kagome never quite understood – clapping when the plane lands. She never partook in that ritual, feeling that clapping as the plane lands means that she had assumed the plane would crash and was therefore happy it didn't. But despite her feelings, people clapped anyway as the plane taxied to the gate and the captain turned off the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign. Kagome got out of her seat, putting her large sunhat on as she did. Reaching above her into the overhead storage she removed her small carry on bag and walked down the aisle and off the plane.

Stepping off of the plane into Milan International Airport made Kagome smile uncontrollably. She hadn't been back to Italy in a year and forgot how much she truly missed the country that made her life what it was now. She took her phone out of her purse as she made her way to the baggage claim, pressing the number 2 button, her phone automatically calling Inuyasha.

"Hi babe" He said as he answered the phone, "Make it there in one piece?"

"Yup. I'm heading to baggage claim now and then I'm off to Sango and Miroku's place. I just wanted to call and tell you I'm here safely."

"All right. Tell Sango and Miroku I say hi and that I can't wait to see them in a month."

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too. _Ciao Bella._" He said in Italian, making Kagome smile even more.

"_Ciao bello."_ She responded and hung up the phone.

It only took a few minutes for her to retrieve her two suitcases and within ten minutes of her conversation with Inuyasha she was headed to the exit of the airport, looking around for someone waiting to pick her up. She assumed that Sango and Miroku sent a car for her, so as she looked at the chauffeurs holding signs she was shocked to see Sango and Miroku standing in the group holding a sign that read "KAGOME!" in large red letters.

"Sango! Miroku!" She shouted and ran to her friends, hugging them both at once, "I didn't know _you_ were coming to pick me up!"

"Well we obviously couldn't send just _anyone_ to get you." Miroku said with a smile. "Now let's get back to the car before any of the paparazzi notices we're all were together." He took both of her suitcases in hand and began to walk to the exit, Sango and Kagome following behind, catching up.

It was a short ride to Sango and Miroku's house, one that Kagome had yet to see. The car pulled up into the large circle driveway and Kagome's jaw dropped at the size of the house. In a city where apartments drown houses, houses mansions are hard to come by and yet Sango and Miroku now lived in one.

She got out of the car and stood in awe of the house. Sango laughed as Miroku pulled the luggage out of the car. "Kagome, you're catching flies. Are you going to come in or just stand in our driveway for the paparazzi to see?"

She followed them into the house was immediately tackled by a dog as tall as she was.

"Apollo! Get down!" Miroku scolded, causing the large Great Dane to back away from Kagome and trot into another room. "Sorry about that Kags. He loves people and sometimes it's hard to control him."

"He's a giant!"

Sango laughed, "He makes for a good guard dog. We have one of those invisible fences and we love to watch the photogs scurry when we let him outside. It's as close as we get to privacy now that we live together."

"I'm sure living in a mansion doesn't help either."

"Well when we decided to move in together, an apartment just seemed too small." Miroku said, shrugging his shoulders.

"So obviously the next step up is mansion." Kagome said teasingly, "Give me a tour! Show me where I'm staying."

Miroku carried her bags up the stairs, depositing them in Kagome's room while Sango gave her the grand tour of the house. The walls were decorated with Miroku's photographs, many of them of Sango, and every room in the house was perfectly accessorized. Kagome could tell right away that Sango and Miroku had decorated it completely on their own, their essence oozed out of every room.

"It's beautiful guys, really. You've certainly made yourselves a home. It beats the hell out of Inuyasha's and my apartment."

"Well, Tokyo is a harder city to find a house like this in. But I'm just it's exactly what you guys need. And your brother is living with you two isn't he?" Sango asked as the sat in the living room.

"Yeah, my parents didn't have the money for him to live in the dorms so Yash and I invited him to stay with us. It's fun to have someone else in the apartment, he and Inuyasha get along really well."

"And does anyone know he's living with you guys? Are you worried about paparazzi?" Miroku asked, "It's a pain in the ass around here."

Kagome shrugged, "For us it's Inuyasha that really has to worry. Movie star will always have more trouble with paparazzi than a model does in Tokyo. But Souta doesn't want any photographers hovering around him so he's sure to not let anyone know who he lives with. For all of our sanities."

"When have you or Inuyasha ever been sane?" Sango joked, causing Kagome to gasp in "offense" before the three of them started to laugh. As she joked and laughed with her friends, Kagome realized even more how much she missed being around Sango and Miroku and Italy altogether. She loved Japan and Inuyasha, but something about being back in Italy completed her in a way she hadn't felt in a while.

"So…go get dressed! We're meeting Ayame and Kouga for dinner!" Sango said, slapping Kagome on the knee as she got to her feet. "Be ready in an hour."

"They're both still in Milan? I could have sworn that Ayame would have dragged him to Ireland." Kagome joked as she headed towards the stairs.

"Well, they bought a house there but they live here. Not much of a market for models in Ireland."

"True. Well, I'm off to wash an 8 hour flight off of me. I can't wait for dinner!" Kagome called over her shoulder as she made her way to her bedroom, excited for the night to come.

* * *

_Author's Note: Well, here it is. I hope it's all right and that you guys enjoy it. I will do my best and get the next chapter our STAT. I'm getting back into the groove again so I promise chapters sooner! Thanks for sticking with me!_


End file.
